DOCSLIB.ORG

Elizabeth's Silver

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Elizabeth's Silver Elizabeth’s Silver Age Ryan Smith 9 April 2018 Thesis Advisor: Professor Matthew Gerber, History Honors Council Representative: Professor Fred Anderson, History Outside Reader: Professor Peter Hunt, Classics Introduction “Therefore, thou gaudy gold, Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee. Nor none of thee [silver], thou pale and common drudge Tween man and man. But thou, thou meagre lead, Which rather threaten’st than dost promise aught, Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence, And here choose I.” -- William Shakespeare (Merchant Of Venice, Act 3, Scene 2, 101-106) In 1547, Henry VIII, King of England, Ireland and France, died. His disastrous decision to debase the currency in the 1540s, in order to use the profits to war with France, left his kingdom in financial ruin and economic turmoil. Furthermore, Edward VI, who was only nine years old, inherited the kingdom. This left powerful lords and the boy’s uncle, Edward Seymour, Protector Somerset, in charge. He decided to push Henry VIII’s religious reformation farther towards Protestantism than Henry VIII ever intended, and indeed farther than Elizabeth I later would. Churches were smashed and plundered of everything that Henry VIII left after his dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, and a new radical prayer book was established. Moreover, Protector Somerset provoked an expensive war with Scotland, and he further debased the currency. But then, suddenly, in 1553 Edward VI took ill and died at the age of 15. He made an attempt through his will to establish his Protestant cousin, Jane Grey, as his immediate successor; but after she reigned for only nine days, Mary I -- Henry VIII’s eldest daughter from his marriage with Catherine of Aragon -- entered London with the popular support of the people 1 and most of the nobles. So, in 1553, Mary I, a staunch Catholic, acceded to the throne of England. Shortly, popular support for Mary I would wane, and she would go down in history as England’s most infamous queen -- Bloody Mary. First, she entered an unpopular marriage with Philip II, the Hapsburg king of Spain and the Netherlands. Then, in turn, she brought the Spanish Inquisition to England -- burning 280 men and women for heresy. Perhaps worse (given that none of the Tudors were particularly tolerant in religious matters), she engaged England in another war with France, this time as an ally of Spain. The alliance benefited Spain more than England, however, as Philip II raided the English treasury and again debased the currency for the purpose of advancing a Spanish/Hapsburg agenda, with little thought to England’s own interest. As a result, the English lost their last remaining foothold on the continent, Calais, to the French in 1558: Mary I, already sick and in isolation, died shortly afterward, still deeply bemoaning the loss. Therefore, in accordance with Henry VIII’s will, his second daughter -- a bastard according to canon law -- Elizabeth I, acceded to the throne of England. Immediately, she faced several major problems. First, she was surrounded by enemies. France and Scotland straddled England’s borders, and Mary Queen of Scots (who was married to the Dauphin of France and briefly became queen consort of France in 1559-60 before her husband died as King Francis II) claimed a better lineage to inherit the crown of England than Elizabeth I -- Mary was a great-granddaughter of Henry VII, and more importantly not a bastard. She cornered her sigil and everyone at the French court addressed her as the queen of England. As such, Mary Queen of Scots posed an imminent threat to Elizabeth I. Second, Catholic Spain and Philip II controlled possibly the wealthiest empire the world had seen to that time, and also the Netherlands only a 2 short distance across the channel from England. This added to the threat that Elizabeth I faced from Catholic powers. Third, Elizabeth faced religious discord in her own kingdom. No one knows the exact balance of Protestants and Catholics (and those in between) upon her accession, but without doubt the issue created the potential for domestic unrest and gave her Catholic enemies a possible weapon to use against her. Fourth, her treasury was empty, and her revenues scarce. As mentioned above, the wars of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Philip II had all stretched the financial capabilities of England to the limits by using financial expediencies -- mainly debasing the coinage. This created Elizabeth’s last problem -- the debased currency itself, which many blamed for the inflation that plagued the realm: starting in the 1540s, prices and wages rose sharply, and continued to rise for more than a century. The great inflation, as some historians have later called it, boggled English minds and inspired discourses that blamed social and economic changes on inflation. By the time Elizabeth I acceded to the throne, the debasement of the currency had become the official explanation for the cause of the inflation plaguing her kingdom. Elizabeth I’s recoinage of 1561, that restored the value of English coins -- attributed to her as her third greatest achievement on her gravestone -- intended to halt this inflation. Of course, the attempt to halt the inflation failed, but overall Elizabeth I prevailed; she reigned for 45 years, ruling over what has become known as a golden age. For example, she fixed England's financial woes, and set her on a path towards a global empire. England’s royal merchant, Thomas Gresham,1 wrote to Elizabeth I at the time of her accession on 17 November 1558 to “Come in as small debtt as you can beyond seays” and “keep your creditt, and specially with your owne marchants, for it is thaye must stand by youe att all 1 The man credited by modern economist with Gresham’s Law: that bad money drives out the good. 3 eventes in your necessity.”2 A bullion shortage in the realm should have made this nationalistic advice impossible, however. For instance, it has been estimated by Sir Albert Feavearyear that Elizabeth’s entire realm contained only 900,000 li worth of silver coinage,3 while C.E. Challis ​ ​ has estimated the circulating medium at only 1,454,000 li after the recoinage of 1561.4 ​ ​ ​ Nevertheless, Elizabeth found a way to keep Gresham’s advice long after his death in the early 1570s. Between 1559 and 1574 Elizabeth I borrowed 1,000,000 li overseas; from 1575 onwards, ​ ​ however, she borrowed only on her own island. She borrowed from the Corporation of London in 1575-6, and in 1588-9. She also forced loans from her wealthiest subjects in 1569, 1588, 1590, 1597, and 1601 that raised a total of 330,600 li. She borrowed another 90,000 li from ​ ​ ​ ​ London between 1598 and 1601.5 This transition from a reliance on foreign loans towards a reliance on domestic sources of liquid capital remains one of the signal achievements of the Elizabethan Age; perhaps overlooked because, despite war and famine and pestilence, Elizabeth I left more gold and silver to James I than debt. Moreover, the English renaissance reached new heights during her reign. The achievements of Shakespeare and the other great playwrights, who benefitted from the movement of plays from town squares and common halls to immense new theatres, provide the best example of this. The first theatre was built in 1576 and called The Theatre. It was named after its amphitheater shape adopted from Roman culture. Playhouses were elaborate constructions: silver was needed to pay ironmongers, carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers and 2 John William Burgon, The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham: compiled Chiefly from his ​ Correspondence Preserved in Her Majesty’s State-Paper Office, Vol. 2 (London, 1839), 483-86 ​ 3 Sir Albert Feavearyear, The Pound Sterling: A History of English Money, Revised by Victor Morgan ​ ​ (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), 76 4 C.E. Challis, The Tudor Coinage, (New York: Manchester University Press, 1978), 246 ​ ​ 5 John Guy, Tudor England, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 382 ​ ​ 4 painters in order to build them. Moreover, the entire investment only made sense if one could expect a consistent audience willing to pay in silver coins to watch the players. It seems this happened and London city dwellers possessed plenty of silver for the theatre. William Harrison wrote some time between 1572 and 1592 that it was “an evident token of a wicked time, when plaiers waxe so riche that they can build such houses”6-- such houses as The Rose (1587), The Globe (1599), and The Fortune (1600). One actor in particular has been noted by historian Christopher Hill:“the financial genius of James Burbage brought playing from a small scale enterprise to a big business.”7 Indeed, James Burbage, a leading member of the earl of Leicester's company,8 obtained a 21 year lease on the first theatre; and, thereafter, he participated in the building of several other playhouses before he died a rich man. On top of this, England saw her exploration, and more importantly trade, expand in an unprecedented fashion by the end of Elizabeth’s reign. In fact, the establishment of the East India Company (EIC) in 1600 marks perhaps the most outstanding achievement of the Elizabethan age. Starting in the 1540s the famous silver cycle developed, which transferred silver from Japan, Europe, and the New World towards China, where it could be disposed of at 50% premium.9 The EIC aimed to take advantage of the price of silver in the east, and was thus a part of the silver cycle. In its first voyage, it exported 21,742 li worth of silver to the east for trade.10 ​ ​ By 1624 the company had exported altogether in 23 years 753,336 li in silver bullion.11 ​ ​ 6 William Harrison, The Description of England, edited by Georges Edelen (Ithaca: Cornell University ​ ​ Press, 1968), 186 7 Christopher Hill, Reformation to Industrial Revolution (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1969), 89 ​ ​ 8 The Queen’s company was formed in 1583 largely of Leicester’s men -- and probably because of the large profits made by James Burbage from The Theatre.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Expressions of Sovereignty: Law and Authority in the Making of the Overseas British Empire, 1576-1640
    EXPRESSIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY EXPRESSIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY: LAW AND AUTHORITY IN THE MAKING OF THE OVERSEAS BRITISH EMPIRE, 1576-1640 By KENNETH RICHARD MACMILLAN, M.A. A Thesis . Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University ©Copyright by Kenneth Richard MacMillan, December 2001 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2001) McMaster University (History) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Expressions of Sovereignty: Law and Authority in the Making of the Overseas British Empire, 1576-1640 AUTHOR: Kenneth Richard MacMillan, B.A. (Hons) (Nipissing University) M.A. (Queen's University) SUPERVISOR: Professor J.D. Alsop NUMBER OF PAGES: xi, 332 11 ABSTRACT .~. ~ This thesis contributes to the body of literature that investigates the making of the British empire, circa 1576-1640. It argues that the crown was fundamentally involved in the establishment of sovereignty in overseas territories because of the contemporary concepts of empire, sovereignty, the royal prerogative, and intemationallaw. According to these precepts, Christian European rulers had absolute jurisdiction within their own territorial boundaries (internal sovereignty), and had certain obligations when it carne to their relations with other sovereign states (external sovereignty). The crown undertook these responsibilities through various "expressions of sovereignty". It employed writers who were knowledgeable in international law and European overseas activities, and used these interpretations to issue letters patent that demonstrated both continued royal authority over these territories and a desire to employ legal codes that would likely be approved by the international community. The crown also insisted on the erection of fortifications and approved of the publication of semiotically charged maps, each of which served the function of showing that the English had possession and effective control over the lands claimed in North and South America, the North Atlantic, and the East and West Indies.
    [Show full text]
  • Investment in the East India Company
    The University of Manchester Research The Global Interests of London's Commercial Community, 1599-1625: investment in the East India Company DOI: 10.1111/ehr.12665 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Link to publication record in Manchester Research Explorer Citation for published version (APA): Smith, E. (2018). The Global Interests of London's Commercial Community, 1599-1625: investment in the East India Company. The Economic History Review, 71(4), 1118-1146. https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12665 Published in: The Economic History Review Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on Manchester Research Explorer is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Proof version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Explorer are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Takedown policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester’s Takedown Procedures [http://man.ac.uk/04Y6Bo] or contact [email protected] providing relevant details, so we can investigate your claim. Download date:05. Oct. 2021 The global interests of London’s commercial community, 1599-1625: investment in the East India Company The English East India Company (EIC) has long been identified as an organisation that foreshadowed developments in finance, investment and overseas expansion that would come to fruition over the course of the following two centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Piracy, Illicit Trade, and the Construction of Commercial
    Navigating the Atlantic World: Piracy, Illicit Trade, and the Construction of Commercial Networks, 1650-1791 Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Jamie LeAnne Goodall, M.A. Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Margaret Newell, Advisor John Brooke David Staley Copyright by Jamie LeAnne Goodall 2016 Abstract This dissertation seeks to move pirates and their economic relationships from the social and legal margins of the Atlantic world to the center of it and integrate them into the broader history of early modern colonization and commerce. In doing so, I examine piracy and illicit activities such as smuggling and shipwrecking through a new lens. They act as a form of economic engagement that could not only be used by empires and colonies as tools of competitive international trade, but also as activities that served to fuel the developing Caribbean-Atlantic economy, in many ways allowing the plantation economy of several Caribbean-Atlantic islands to flourish. Ultimately, in places like Jamaica and Barbados, the success of the plantation economy would eventually displace the opportunistic market of piracy and related activities. Plantations rarely eradicated these economies of opportunity, though, as these islands still served as important commercial hubs: ports loaded, unloaded, and repaired ships, taverns attracted a variety of visitors, and shipwrecking became a regulated form of employment. In places like Tortuga and the Bahamas where agricultural production was not as successful, illicit activities managed to maintain a foothold much longer.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary Stuart and Elizabeth 1 Notes for a CE Source Question Introduction
    Mary Stuart and Elizabeth 1 Notes for a CE Source Question Introduction Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587) Mary was the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. She became Queen of Scotland when she was six days old after her father died at the Battle of Solway Moss. A marriage was arranged between Mary and Edward, only son of Henry VIII but was broken when the Scots decided they preferred an alliance with France. Mary spent a happy childhood in France and in 1558 married Francis, heir to the French throne. They became king and queen of France in 1559. Francis died in 1560 of an ear infection and Mary returned to Scotland a widow in 1561. During Mary's absence, Scotland had become a Protestant country. The Protestants did not want Mary, a Catholic and their official queen, to have any influence. In 1565 Mary married her cousin and heir to the English throne, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The marriage was not a happy one. Darnley was jealous of Mary's close friendship with her secretary, David Rizzio and in March 1566 had him murdered in front of Mary who was six months pregnant with the future James VI and I. Darnley made many enemies among the Scottish nobles and in 1567 his house was blown up. Darnley's body was found outside in the garden, he had been strangled. Three months later Mary married the chief suspect in Darnley’s murder, the Earl of Bothwell. The people of Scotland were outraged and turned against her.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Francis Drake, California Encounter with Miwok, 1579
    Library of Congress The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake (Voyage of 1577-1580) compiled by Drake’s nephew, Francis Drake, from the journal of the ship’s chaplain, Frances Fletcher, and others; published 1628 excerpts: Nova Albion (California), 1579 In December 1577 the Drake expedition departed England to sail west around the world, reaching the Pacific Ocean in eleven months after a calamitous sail through the Straits of Magellan. During the next year the Golden Hind sailed north along the continents’ west coast as far north as Vancouver, partly in search of the elusive “northwest passage.” Repelled by the cold weather they endured that far north, even in spring months, The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, Drake and his crew turned south and anchored near San Francisco Bay in 1628, frontispiece and title page June 1579, remaining for five weeks to prepare for the long sail across the Pacific Ocean. There they met the native inhabitants, the Coastal Miwok. " In 38 deg. 30 min. we fell with a convenient and fit harbor,1 and June 17 came to anchor there, where we continued till the 23 day of July following. During all which time, notwith- standing it was in the height of summer, and so near the sun, yet were we continually visited with like nipping colds as we had felt before; insomuch that if violent exercises of our bodies, and busy employment about our necessary labors, had not sometimes compelled us to the contrary, we could very well have been contented to have kept about us still our winter clothes; yea (had our necessities suffered us) to have kept our beds; neither could we at any time, in whole fourteen days together, find the air so clear as to be able to take the height of sun or star [latitude].
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 10 RIPOSTE and REPRISE
    Chapter 10 RIPOSTE AND REPRISE ...I have given the name of the Strait of the Mother of God, to what was formerly known as the Strait of Magellan...because she is Patron and Advocate of these regions....Fromitwill result high honour and glory to the Kings of Spain ... and to the Spanish nation, who will execute the work, there will be no less honour, profit, and increase. ...they died like dogges in their houses, and in their clothes, wherein we found them still at our comming, untill that in the ende the towne being wonderfully taynted with the smell and the savour of the dead people, the rest which remayned alive were driven ... to forsake the towne.... In this place we watered and woodded well and quietly. Our Generall named this towne Port famine.... The Spanish riposte: Sarmiento1 Francisco de Toledo lamented briefly that ‘the sea is so wide, and [Drake] made off with such speed, that we could not catch him’; but he was ‘not a man to dally in contemplations’,2 and within ten days of the hang-dog return of the futile pursuers of the corsair he was planning to lock the door by which that low fellow had entered. Those whom he had sent off on that fiasco seem to have been equally, and reasonably, terrified of catching Drake and of returning to report failure; and we can be sure that the always vehement Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa let his views on their conduct be known. He already had the Viceroy’s ear, having done him signal if not too scrupulous service in the taking of the unfortunate Tupac Amaru (above, Ch.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare, Middleton, Marlowe
    UNTIMELY DEATHS IN RENAISSANCE DRAMA UNTIMELY DEATHS IN RENAISSANCE DRAMA: SHAKESPEARE, MIDDLETON, MARLOWE By ANDREW GRIFFIN, M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University ©Copyright by Andrew Griffin, July 2008 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2008) McMaster University (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Untimely Deaths in Renaissance Drama: Shakespeare, Middleton, Marlowe AUTHOR: Andrew Griffin, M.A. (McMaster University), B.A. (Queen's University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Helen Ostovich NUMBER OF PAGES: vi+ 242 ii Abstract In this dissertation, I read several early modem plays - Shakespeare's Richard II, Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, and Marlowe's Dido, Queene ofCarthage ­ alongside a variety of early modem historiographical works. I pair drama and historiography in order to negotiate the question of early modem untimely deaths. Rather than determining once and for all what it meant to die an untimely death in early modem England, I argue here that one answer to this question requires an understanding of the imagined relationship between individuals and the broader unfolding of history by which they were imagined to be shaped, which they were imagined to shape, or from which they imagined to be alienated. I assume here that drama-particularly historically-minded drama - is an ideal object to consider when approaching such vexed questions, and I also assume that the problematic of untimely deaths provides a framework in which to ask about the historico-culturally specific relationships that were imagined to obtain between subjects and history. While it is critically commonplace to assert that early modem drama often stages the so-called "modem" subject, I argue here that early modem visions of the subject are often closely linked to visions of that subject's place in the world, particularly in the world that is recorded by historiographers as a world within and of history.
    [Show full text]
  • Ulama Aceh Dalam Melahirkan Human Resource Di Aceh
    ULAMA ACEH DALAM MELAHIRKAN HUMAN RESOURCE DI ACEH ULAMA ACEH DALAM MELAHIRKAN HUMAN RESOURCE DI ACEH Tim penulis: Muhammad Thalal, Fauzi Saleh, Jabbar Sabil, Kalam Daud, Samsul Bahri, Ismail Muhammad, Mulyadi Nurdin, Ayyub AR, Fuad Ramly, Firdaus M. Yunus, Ismail, Nab Bahany AS, Anton Widyanto, Hardiansyah, Ikhram M. Amin, Imran Muhammad, Jamaluddin Thayyib, Syamsuar Basyariah, Ruslan Editor: Muliadi Kurdi PERPUSTAKAAN NASIONAL: KATALOG DALAM TERBITAN (KDT) ULAMA ACEH DALAM MELAHIRKAN HUMAN RESOURCE DI ACEH Edisi pertama, Cet. 1 tahun 2010 Yayasan Aceh Mandiri, Banda Aceh, 2010 xvi + 294 hlm, 16 x 24 cm ISBN 978-602-95838-8-5 HAK CIPTA PADA PENULIS Hak cipta dilindungi undang-undang Cetakan pertama, Nopember 2009 Tim penulis: Muhammad Thalal, Fauzi Saleh, Jabbar Sabil, Kalam Daud, Samsul Bahri, Ismail Muhammad, Mulyadi Nurdin, Ayyub AR, Fuad Ramly, Firdaus M. Yunus, Ismail, Nab Bahany As, Anton Widyanto, Hardiansyah, Ikhram M. Amin, Imran Muhammad, Syamsuar Basyariah, Jamaluddin Thayyib, Ruslan Editor: Muliadi Kurdi Disain sampul dan tataletak: Jabbar Sabil Buku ini merupakan hasil penelitian yang dilaksanakan oleh Yayasan Aceh Mandiri 2010 M/1431 H Sambutan Ketua Komisi A DPR Aceh Puji dan syukur kita panjatkan kehadhirat Allah Swt., v yang telah melimpahkan rahmat dan karunia-Nya yang tak terhingga kepada kita. Shalawat dan salam semoga tercurahkan ke pangkuan junjungan ‘alam Nabi Besar Muhammad saw., sahabat dan keluarga beliau sekalian. Dalam Alquran surat al-‘Alaq Allah Swt., menjelaskan bahwa Dia mengajarkan manusia dengan qalam. Artinya qalam secara simbolik memilik makna bahwa pentingnya tulisan, uraian dan karangan yang menyingkap hukum dan hikmah. Qalam pernah mengantarkan umat Islam ke alam kemajuan dan keemasan (golden age).
    [Show full text]
  • Ambassadors to and from England
    p.1: Prominent Foreigners. p.25: French hostages in England, 1559-1564. p.26: Other Foreigners in England. p.30: Refugees in England. p.33-85: Ambassadors to and from England. Prominent Foreigners. Principal suitors to the Queen: Archduke Charles of Austria: see ‘Emperors, Holy Roman’. France: King Charles IX; Henri, Duke of Anjou; François, Duke of Alençon. Sweden: King Eric XIV. Notable visitors to England: from Bohemia: Baron Waldstein (1600). from Denmark: Duke of Holstein (1560). from France: Duke of Alençon (1579, 1581-1582); Prince of Condé (1580); Duke of Biron (1601); Duke of Nevers (1602). from Germany: Duke Casimir (1579); Count Mompelgart (1592); Duke of Bavaria (1600); Duke of Stettin (1602). from Italy: Giordano Bruno (1583-1585); Orsino, Duke of Bracciano (1601). from Poland: Count Alasco (1583). from Portugal: Don Antonio, former King (1581, Refugee: 1585-1593). from Sweden: John Duke of Finland (1559-1560); Princess Cecilia (1565-1566). Bohemia; Denmark; Emperors, Holy Roman; France; Germans; Italians; Low Countries; Navarre; Papal State; Poland; Portugal; Russia; Savoy; Spain; Sweden; Transylvania; Turkey. Bohemia. Slavata, Baron Michael: 1576 April 26: in England, Philip Sidney’s friend; May 1: to leave. Slavata, Baron William (1572-1652): 1598 Aug 21: arrived in London with Paul Hentzner; Aug 27: at court; Sept 12: left for France. Waldstein, Baron (1581-1623): 1600 June 20: arrived, in London, sightseeing; June 29: met Queen at Greenwich Palace; June 30: his travels; July 16: in London; July 25: left for France. Also quoted: 1599 Aug 16; Beddington. Denmark. King Christian III (1503-1 Jan 1559): 1559 April 6: Queen Dorothy, widow, exchanged condolences with Elizabeth.
    [Show full text]
  • Leaving the Mm:J.In to Ply About Lundy, for Securing Trade
    Rep. Lundy Field Soc. 4 7 IN THE SHADOW OF THE BLACK ENSIGN: LUNDY'S PART IN PIRACY By C.G. HARFIELD Flat 4, 23 Upperton Gardens, Eastboume, BN21 2AA Pirates! The word simultaneously conjures images of fear, violence and brutality with evocations of adventure on the high seas, swashbuckling heroes and quests for buried treasure. Furthermore, the combination of pirates and islands excites romantic fascination (Cordingly 1995, 162-6), perhaps founded upon the popular and sanitised anti-heroes of literature such as Long John Silver and Captain Hook (Mitchell discusses how literature has romanticised piracy, 1976, 7-10). This paper aims to discover, as far as possible, the part Lundy had to play in piracy in British waters, and to place that in perspective. The nature of the sources for piracy around Lundy will be discussed elsewhere (Harfield, forthcoming); here the story those sources tell is presented. It is not a story of deep-water pirates who traversed the oceans in search of bullion ships, but rather an illustration of the nature of coastal piracy with the bulk of the evidence coming from the Tudor and Stuart periods. LUNDY AS A LANDMARK IN THE EVIDENCE The majority of references to Lundy and pirates mention the island only as a landmark (Harfield, forthcoming). Royal Navy ships are regularly recorded plying the waters between the Scilly Isles, Lundy and the southern coasts of Wales and Ireland (see fig. I) with the intention of clearing these waters of pirates, both British and foreign. For instance, Captain John Donner encountered English pirates ':fifteen miles distant from Lundy Isle" in April 155 7 (7.3.1568, CSP(D)).
    [Show full text]
  • The Pirates' Who's Who, by Philip Gosse 1
    The Pirates' Who's Who, by Philip Gosse 1 The Pirates' Who's Who, by Philip Gosse The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pirates' Who's Who, by Philip Gosse This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Pirates' Who's Who Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers Author: Philip Gosse Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #19564] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIRATES' WHO'S WHO *** Produced by Suzanne Shell, Christine D. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's note. Many of the names in this book (even outside quoted passages) are inconsistently spelt. I have chosen to retain the original spelling treating these as author error rather than typographical carelessness. THE PIRATES' The Pirates' Who's Who, by Philip Gosse 2 WHO'S WHO Giving Particulars of the Lives & Deaths of the Pirates & Buccaneers BY PHILIP GOSSE ILLUSTRATED BURT FRANKLIN: RESEARCH & SOURCE WORKS SERIES 119 Essays in History, Economics & Social Science 51 BURT FRANKLIN NEW YORK Published by BURT FRANKLIN 235 East 44th St., New York 10017 Originally Published: 1924 Printed in the U.S.A. Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 68-56594 Burt Franklin: Research & Source Works Series 119 Essays in History, Economics & Social Science
    [Show full text]
  • Elizabeth I and Irish Rule: Causations For
    ELIZABETH I AND IRISH RULE: CAUSATIONS FOR CONTINUED SETTLEMENT ON ENGLAND’S FIRST COLONY: 1558 - 1603 By KATIE ELIZABETH SKELTON Bachelor of Arts in History Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2009 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS May, 2012 ELIZABETH I AND IRISH RULE: CAUSATIONS FOR CONTINUED SETTLEMENT ON ENGLAND’S FIRST COLONY: 1558 - 1603 Thesis Approved: Dr. Jason Lavery Thesis Adviser Dr. Kristen Burkholder Dr. L.G. Moses Dr. Sheryl A. Tucker Dean of the Graduate College ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1 II. ENGLISH RULE OF IRELAND ...................................................... 17 III. ENGLAND’S ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP WITH IRELAND ...................... 35 IV. ENGLISH ETHNIC BIAS AGAINST THE IRISH ................................... 45 V. ENGLISH FOREIGN POLICY & IRELAND ......................................... 63 VI. CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................ 94 iii LIST OF MAPS Map Page The Island of Ireland, 1450 ......................................................... 22 Plantations in Ireland, 1550 – 1610................................................ 72 Europe, 1648 ......................................................................... 75 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page
    [Show full text]